1. Field
The invention is in the field of child-resistant containers, particularly medicine vials, which satisfy government safety requirements against opening by children.
2. State of the Art
Many different types of containers resistant to opening by children have been developed. Although furnishing protection for children, these have been annoying and sometimes dangerous when used to package prescriptions and other medicines required by adults, especially elderly people who often find them exceedingly difficult or impossible to open. Medicines that must be taken quickly to relieve various physical ailments, such as a heart condition, must be readily available. Thus, containers for medicines, e.g. pharmaceutical vials, of child resistant construction as a safety precaution against inadvertent opening by children can be dangerous for adults.
My U.S. Pat. No. 3,991,895 discloses a container that, in one form, provides for dual latching of the cover part to the receptacle part. A first turn of the cover attaches it to the receptacle in easy-to-open condition, while continued turning against yieldable resistance latches it to the receptacle in hard-to-open, child-resistant condition. Although a moisture-proof medicine vial is specifically shown and described, the dual latching feature is applicable to containers in general, with or without the moisture-proof feature.
A difficulty in using the dual latching container of my patent is that the yieldable resistance does not preclude continual turning of the cover into child-resistant condition and is often overcome at the end of the first turning of the cover, so that the child-resistant condition is reached inadvertently by adults intending to maintain the container in easy-to-open condition.